Newfoundland and Labrador

We just learned about the Canadian province is New Brunswick.

Another Canadian province is Newfoundland and Labrador.
This is the province in the most north and east part of the province.

The Newfoundland part of the province gets its name from the Portuguese explorers, and the Labrador gets its name from the Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador.


(from: wikipedia - newfoundland and labrador)

The flag of this province is blue, white, red and yellow, and is shaped like the union jack flag of Great Britain.
On the left side, the blue is for the sea, and the white is for the snow and ice.
On the right side, the red white is for the struggle of the people, and the gold is for their confidence in the future.


(from: wikipedia - flag of newfoundland and labrador)

The coat of arms of this province has a caribou at the top, above a shield with the lion and unicorn for England and Scotland.
On the left and right of the shield are Beothuk people, who are the indigenous people of Newfoundland.
At the bottom is the motto Quaerite prime Regnum Dei, which is from the Bible Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."


(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of newfoundland and labrador)

St. John's is a big city in Newfoundland, where they have the oldest annual regatta in North America.
It also has Cabot Tower, where the first wireless message was sent across the Atlantic Ocean.
And there is a row of colorful houses that is nicknamed Jelly Bean Row.


(from: wikipedia - st. john's, newfoundland and labrador)

Long ago when the Norse people came into Newfoundland, they lived in what are called Sod Houses, meaning that they lived underneath dirt houses covered in grass.


(from: wikipedia - l'anse aux meadows)


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New Brunswick

We just learned about the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Another Canadian Province is New Brunswick.
It is on the east coast of Canada, right by Nova Scotia.


(from: wikipedia - new brunswick)

The flag of New Brunswick has a gold lion on a red background, above a picture of a viking ship with a yellow background, sailing on blue and white striped water.

(from: wikipedia - flag of new brunswick)

The coat of arms of New Brunswick has a leaping fish called a salmon, sitting on a golden helmet with maple leaves and St. Edward's crown. These are all pictures meaning royalty.
Below that is a shield with the flag of New Brunswick on it.
Under the shield are purple violets, and a fern called the fiddlehead.
Next to the shield are white tailed deer wearing collars made of beads from the Maliseet native people, and they have badges for both the United Kingdom and France.

The motto at the bottom is "Spem reduxit" which means "It has restored hope".


(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of new brunswick)

There is a small island in New Brunswick called Miscou Island that has a three story light house, built in 1856.

(from: wikipedia - miscou island lighthouse)

One group of French settlers in Canada are known as the Acadians.
Many Acadians were forced to leave Canada and go live in the southern part of the United States, but some Acadians still live in New Brunswick.
They have holidays to remember the Acadian people, and they wave around noisemakers called tintamarre during parades.

(from: wikipedia - tintamarre)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gasherbrum I

Nova Scotia

We just learned about the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Another Canadian province is Nova Scotia which means "New Scotland".

This is an island province on the east coast of Canada, right on the ocean.


(from: wikipedia - nova scotia)

The flag of Nova Scotia is a white flag with a blue cross on it.
This is supposed to look like the flag of Scotland, which is a blue flag with a white cross on it.
In the middle of the Nova Scotia flag is a gold shield with a red lion, which is the royal arms of Scotland.

(from: wikipedia - flag of nova scotia)

The coat of arms of Nova Scotia has two hands on it that are shaking hands, one of the hands has a metal gauntlet.
Part of Nova Scotia's history was making peace with the Native Mi'Kmaq people that lived there.
By the hands are leaves from a thistle and a laurel, meaning strong defense but also peace.

The coat of arms also has the province flag, a unicorn for Scotland, and a Mi'kmaq First Nation native.
The motto is "Munit haec et altera vincit" which means "One hand defends and the other conquers"

(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of nova scotia)

Because it is an island province, fishing is one of the most important jobs there, and they are one of the largest catcher of lobsters in the world.

(from: wikipedia - halifax, nova scotia)

Cape Breton is a small island that is part of Nova Scotia.

(from: wikipedia - cape breton island)

Sable Island is nother very small island in Nova Scotia, and it is only 150 miles long!
On this island are about 500 wild horses, that just run free on the island where nobody lives.

(from: wikipedia - sable island)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Annapurna Massif

Saskatchewan

We just learned about the Canadian province of Manitoba.

The next most populated Canadian province is Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan is in the southern middle part of Canada, just west of Manitoba.
The name comes from an old cree name for the river, meaning "swift flowing river".
This province gets more sunshine than any other province, and has the record for the hottest temperature in all of Canada, at 113 degrees F.


(from: wikipedia - saskatchewan)

The flag of Saskatchewan has the coat of arms in the upper left, and the province flower of the western red lily in the bottom right.
The upper green half is for the forests, and the bottom gold half is for the prairie wheat fields.

(from: wikipedia - flag of saskatchewan)

The coat of arms for Saskatchewan has a lion for England, some wheat for the farms, Canada's national animal the beaver, a western red lily for the province, a white tailed deer, and a maple leaf.

The province motto is "Multis e gentibus vires" which means "from many peoples, strength"

(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of saskatchewan)

A famous Native American named Sitting Bull moved to Saskatchewan after the famous Battle of Little Bighorn, and had a family there for a while.

(from: wikipedia - sitting bull)

Hockey is the most popular sport in Saskatchewan, and many famous hockey players came from there, including Gordie Howe.

(from: wikipedia - gordie howe)

Moose Jaw is one of the largest cities in Saskatchewan, where they have a giant statue of Mac the Moose.

(from: wikipedia - mac the moose)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nanga Parbat

Manitoba

We just learned about the province of Alberta.

The next biggest province in Canada is Manitoba.

It is in the southern part, right in the middle, above North Dakota and Minnesota.


(from: wikipedia - manitoba)

The flag for the province is the flag called the red ensign, with the coat of arms also on it.
The red ensign is a flag used by the United Kingdom, and has the flag of Great Britain in the corner on top of a red background.

Long ago the flag for all of Canada looked like the Red Ensign, but then in 1965 Canada changed their national flag to be the maple leaf.
The people of Manitoba wanted to keep the red ensign as a flag to show that they still liked the United Kingdom, so they made it the flag of their province.


(from: wikipedia - flag of manitoba)

The seal of the province shows that many people came from Britain, and also some things from local Canada.
At the top is the cross of St. George for England, and the bottom has the bison on a rock with a green background for the nature of Canada.


(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of manitoba)

The arctic temperatures in Manitoba are perfect for many polar bears to live there.

(from: wikipedia - polar bear)

Winnipeg the capital of Manitoba, has a museum called the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.


(from: wikipedia - canadian museum for human rights)

There is an old fort in Churchill called the Prince of Wales Fort

(from: wikipedia - prince of wales fort)


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Alberta

We just learned about the British Columbia.

Another province in Canada is Alberta.
Alberta is in the west part of Canada, just north of the US state of Montana.



(from: wikipedia - alberta)

The flag of Alberta is a blue background with the shield of Alberta on it.
The shield has pictures of the natural beauty of Alberta on it, the Rocky mountains, the grass prairies and wheat fields.


(from: wikipedia - flag of alberta)

The coat of arms of Alberta has a beaver, the shield of Alberta, wild roses that are the flower of Alberta, a golden lion and a pronghorn.


(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of alberta)

There is a lot of oil in Canada, in a place called the Athabasca oil sands.
This place has the third most oil of any place in the world.


(from: wikipedia - athabasca oil sands)

There is a park in Alberta called Dinosaur Provincial Park where they have found a whole lot of old dinosaur bones.


(from: wikipedia - dinosaur provincial park)

The bighorn sheep is the state animal of Alberta.


(from: wikipedia - bighorn sheep)


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British Columbia

We just learned about the Quebec.

Another of the provinces in Canada is British Columbia.

This province is on the west coast of Canada, right above the state of Seattle.
Sometimes it is just called BC.


(from: wikipedia - british columbia)

The province flag has a higher part that is just like the Britain's Union flag, but with a crown in the middle.
The lower part has wavy blue and white lines which are because BC is between the Pacific ocean and the Rocky mountains.
There is a sun with rays on the bottom half of the flag, and this is because the sun sets in the west, and BC is the province farthest to the west.


(from: wikipedia - british columbia)

The coat of arms of BC is the Queen's royal crest on it, and a shield that looks like the province flag.
There is an elk on one side and a sheep on the other.
The motto of BC is "Splendor Sine Occasu" which is Latin and means the sun will never set on the British Empire.


(from: wikipedia - british columbia)

The largest city in BC is Vancouver. It is right on the water on the west coast.

(from: wikipedia - vancouver)

Vancouver Island is the largest island on the west coast of North America.


(from: wikipedia - vancouver island)

The Rocky Mountains go through BC, and there are beautiful places like Banff National Park.


(from: wikipedia - banff national park)


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Quebec

We just learned about the Canadian province of Ontario.

Quebec is in the Northeast part of Canada, east of Ontario, and north of New York.
It is the second most populated province in Canada, and it was originally settled by people from France, so in this Province they speak both French and English.


(from: wikipedia - quebec)

The flag of Quebec has a blue background, a white cross, and four white fluers-de-lis, which is French for lily flower.
This flower picture was on the French royal flags, so the Quebec flag is to honor their French history.

(from: wikipedia - flag of quebec)

The coat of arms for Quebec are a crown above a shield with three parts.
The top is the fluers-de-lis for France, the middle is a lion for England, and the bottom is three green maple leaves for Canada.
The words je me souveins is French for I remember.

(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of quebec)

Lake Ontario is part of the five Great Lakes, and it is connected to a water way called the Saint Lawrence Seaway that eventually makes its way out to the ocean.


(from: wikipedia - saint lawrence seaway)

Montreal is the largest city in Quebec, and it has a very old cathedral built in the late 1800s, called Notre-Dame Basilica

(from: wikipedia - notre-dame basilica (montreal))

The official bird of Quebec is the Snowy owl

(from: wikipedia - snowy owl)


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Ontario

Let's learn more about the Canadian Provinces.

The province of Ontario has more people living there than any other province. About 1/3 of all the people in Canada live in southeast Ontario.
This province also has the nation's capital of Ottowa, and the nation's most populated city of Toronto.
Ontario has a border along the US of about 1,678 miles.
Almost all of that border is made up of rivers or lakes, and only less than one mile is actually connected by land.

Ontario is in east-central Canada, right above Michigan.
To the north are Hudson Bay and James Bay, and to the south it borders four of the five Great Lakes, Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.


(from: wikipedia - ontario)

The flag of Ontario is red, with the flag of the United Kingdom and the state shield on it.
Just like the USA, Canada was once a part of the United Kingdom.

(from: wikipedia - flag of ontario)

The coat of arms of Ontario has a black bear standing on an armored helmet which is above a red and white cross flag which is the flag of England.
Below the flag is a green shield with three golden maple leafs on it.
On the left is a Moose, and on the right is a deer. These are animals that live in Canada.
Below the animals are the Latin words "Ut incepit Fidelis sic permanet" which means "Loyal she began, loyal she remains"
This means that the people of Ontario were loyal to England, even after the American Revolution.

(from: wikipedia - coat of arms of ontario)

Niagara Falls is shared between the state of New York and the province of Ontario.

(from: wikipedia - niagara falls)

The largest nuclear power plant in the world is in Ontario, at a place called Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.

(from: wikipedia - bruce nuclear generating station)

The largest city in all of Canada is Toronto.
There are many things to see there, like the CN tower.

(from: wikipedia - toronto)

Ottawa, the capital city of Canada is in Ontario.
It is where the prime minister and parliament work for the government.

(from: wikipedia - ottawa)


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